G-Force at the races!

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Some people only awaken and break into a song when tyres are crunching the tarmac. They zoom into motion with the adrenaline rush and make their life one exciting, nerve-racking and thrilling drive. Race driver Gaurav Gill is from the same family of speedsters.

In the Asia Pacific circuit, he recently stood first in the New Zealand and New Caledonia round. “Anything to do with speed and wheels is what makes me tick,” says Gaurav Gill. Be it the thrill of the hairpin bends of the motor cross which he started his love affair with speed on or the steering wheel, ask the driver who is on board with the Mahindra team what makes him tick, and like any talented racer, he admits it’s the power of the drive, the skill and brazen love of racing that revs him on. “I was in New Caledonia for the Asia and Pacific Rally Championship, where I came first. In the first round in New Zealand, I came first too,” he says.
The much-married fellow loves the time he spends with his wife Shilpa who is a dermatologist and his over a year-old son Aryan. “We juggle our time as I am travelling and she’s finished her MD and is busy doing hospital rounds. We try to find time between all the racing and sometimes they travel with me too,” says the doting father who loves spending time with Aryan, who he says, “Is like father, like son — he already loves sitting behind the wheel.”
The driver is very close to his mother and it’s one happy family that tries to accompany him on his races, depending upon time and space.
Shuttling between Chennai and Delhi, where he is based, he is focused and an old hand on the race track, be it the chicanes or the gruelling hours in the car! “We have to be mega fit, sometimes I am driving for 12 hours in the championships and therefore the core needs to be strong. The terrain is also sometimes harsh, like in Japan, we went up a mountain in biting cold and it was 5 degrees and then suddenly it was snowing, and then it was raining. Of course there is diet control, no oil, which when I am out of India is easy to do, as I live on Subway sandwiches,” he adds.
Travelling across the globe is in itself such a wonderfully enriching experience, but imagine driving through the beauteous hills and vales of a new country, exploring unbeaten tracks. “We don’t get much time to sightsee during races. But I am an outdoorsy person and love adventure of any kind. Luckily, my wife Shilpa too loves the outdoors, so as a family, we trek, hike, camp,” he explains.
So what is this INRC champ’s philosophy in life? He is quite grounded, “I don’t have any idol. I just focus on driving and try to break my own records. But,the nine time world champion Sebastien Loeb is someone I respect. He was called the fastest man on the planet and I try to learn from him.”
With racing being a rich man’s sport, how does he work around it, “Yes, it is a rich man’s sport but I have pursued this beyond all odds. Till today what I have achieved has been on merit. For me the focus was simple, you have to go and get your dreams and make them come true. Today, I am doing it and loving every minute of it.” For the future though, he can’t wait for his son Aryan to get his hands on a go-kart, “I can’t wait to get him his first go-kart or even learn drifting,” says the proud daddy.